Reviews
Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 August 2023 15 August 2023
It was back in late 2020. I recall, quite vividly, several weeks of bliss with Bowers & Wilkins’ 702 Signature Edition speakers (review here). Joy, joy. Over and above the excellent 702 S2 standard version (reviewed back in 2017), the ‘SE’ was the ultimate expression of the company’s highly popular 700 series. Its sonic skills were so sharply refined that it could cheekily face-slap with a challenging glove its 800 series entry points compadres. And then there was that insane ‘Datuk Gloss’ finish. Knock-out. Time-jump to Q2 2023 and I receive a call from Australian distributor Masimo Consumer’s John Martin offering to renew my acquaintance with the 702 flagship, now, in its latest-gen 702 S3 generational evolvement. “How about a review?” Umm… like, yeah!
Yamaha NS-2000A Loudspeakers
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- Written by Barry James Johnston Barry James Johnston
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 August 2023 01 August 2023
Yamaha needs no introduction, founded as Nippon Gakki Co. Ltd. in 1887, as a reed organ manufacturer, the company is a Japanese powerhouse of innovation across multiple industries. From motorcycles to outboard motors, pianos, to electronic keyboards, guitars, semiconductors, drum kits, Hi-Fi equipment, and mixing consoles, Yamaha is perhaps the only company that provides technologies and products at every step of the musical creative process. From the instruments that music is composed and performed on, to the mixers, effects units and monitors that it is recorded, mixed and mastered on, to the turntables, cassette decks, CD players, amplifiers and speakers, that inspire us at home, which complete and re-establish the creative cycle. Yamaha has an insight into the entire process, in a holistic manner unlike perhaps any other manufacturer. The NS-2000A, under scrutiny here, reaffirms the company’s creative power.
EGM Audio Emerald AC Power Cable
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- Written by Barry Jones Barry Jones
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 August 2023 01 August 2023
I have to confess that I’ve never been tempted to invest heavily in AC power cables. I do own some Merlin Tarantula Mk6 power cables which I bought several years ago (without audition) for a modest investment and found it to be difficult to quantify much of an improvement above the standard supplied cables. I’ve swapped them in and out of production over the years tending to favour whatever cable was (gasp) most easily manoeuvrable behind my cabinet! While there seems to be more debate on the effectiveness of AC cables than signal cables, I’ve always been intrigued and wondered what a serious quality type of AC power cable could make. Enter the EGM Emerald…
Metronome Technologie Le Player 4+ CD Player/DAC
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- Written by Barry James Johnston Barry James Johnston
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 July 2023 15 July 2023
On the 6th of January 1987, Astronomers at the University of California witnessed the birth of a Galaxy for the first time, and later that month, Ronald Reagan signed a secret order permitting covert sales of arms to Iran. Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley and B.B.King were in the company of greats being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it was a year that saw 80s rock reach new heights, with the likes of Whitesnake’s 1987. Movies like Full Metal Jacket, and Robin Williams’ iconic performance in Good Morning Vietnam, made their mark on pop culture history, and a small audio company, Metronome Technologie, was birthed in the beautiful French town of Toulouse.
Lumin U2 Streaming Transport
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- Written by Tom Waters Tom Waters
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 July 2023 01 July 2023
Lumin is an offshoot of Pixel Magic Systems Ltd of Hong Kong, a privately-held electronics equipment manufacturer founded in 2003 to create home theatre and home audio products. Lumin was created in 2013 to design and manufacture network players, network transports, network amplifiers and network music servers. It has been quite prolific and has launched many products that, without fail, have been accepted very quickly by audio enthusiasts around the world. People talk of Lumin whenever they talk of high-end music servers/players. The product in focus this time is the brand new Lumin U2 Network Transport.
Soulnote S-3 Reference SACD Player & X-3 Clock Generator
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 July 2023 01 July 2023
Hey, they say there’s something about a name. When an audio company chooses ‘Soulnote’ for its branding, it’s making a powerful statement right from the outset. Soul… Note… Conjuring expectations, right? The company name hints at products aiming for the ethereal core of music, connecting art, the artist and along the creative chain to the music lover. Will the Soulnote S-3 Reference SACD Player and X-3 Clock Generator under review here fuse the spirit of music with the fundamentals of sonic performance?
Polk Audio Legend L600 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Steven JM Polley Steven JM Polley
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 June 2023 15 June 2023
Back in 1972, Mathew Polk and a team of big dreamers with just $200 between them set out on a wildly determined voyage to bring engaging, immersive sound to the masses of music lovers. With no interest in producing esoteric “cost-no-object products”, Polk’s real challenge was to deliver a truly great audiophile experience at a cost most people could afford. This established its founding philosophy of sound and design. Do the newest generation ‘Legend Series’ L600 speakers reaffirm the over 50-year-old mandate?
YBA Passion PRE550 MkII Preamplifier & Passion A650 Power Amplifier
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- Written by Mark Busby Mark Busby
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 June 2023 01 June 2023
This review covers two chic looking products from French audio designer Yves-Bernard André who started the YBA brand in the early 1980s. A multi-faceted and thoroughly modern pre amplifier, the YBA Passion PRE550 MkII and a powerful solid state amplifier, the Passion YBA A650 Power Amplifier. The PRE550 caters for analogue and digital sources and has its own twin DACs on board. How will these French audio fashionistas perform?
Audio Research I/50 Integrated Amplifier
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- Written by Peter Katsoolis Peter Katsoolis
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 May 2023 15 May 2023
I opened the crisp white shipping carton of the new Audio Research I/50 integrated amplifier and did a double take. Staring back at me was a user manual bedecked in bold block primary colours in the manner of Piet Mondrian – and Shonen Knife. I have been fortunate to own a few ARC models in the past, not in the least an SP-10 preamplifier and the criminally underrated CD2/DAC3MkII digital combo. Each came with a plain wrapper manual that, like 1970’s Letraset, would not have been out of place on founder William Z. Johnson’s boffin bookshelf. Here from the get-go was a statement of clear intent on the part of the freshly independent Audio Research. Had it come wrapped in red towelling and tied with some cool plastic dice you might have thought the I/50 was shipping from fellow Minnesotans, the ultra-hip ZVEX guitar effects company. ARC is the granddaddy of American tube audio equipment. But the I/50 integrated ain’t gonna be your granddaddy’s tube amplifier.
Totaldac d1-triunity Digital to Analogue Converter
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 May 2023 01 May 2023
A few years ago, after having a Totaldac digital-to-analogue converter in for review and being seduced by its sonic excellence, no doubt due for the most part to its proprietary discrete R2R ladder digital conversion technology, I enthusiastically added the review sample to my then reference system. That was Totaldac’s d1-core and it’s the company’s entry point to this day. It was killer. Yes, killer. In defiance of its relatively modest price, its sound had an almost intangible magic and a certain… rightness. Even juxtaposed, at the time, with my own high-end CD player which employed multi-bit DA conversion (the legendary TDA1541 chip). Ever since, I’ve been using Totaldac’s converters exclusively as the blood source of my reference system’s central nervous system. Four years later, d1-core stepped aside for the purity and tonal precision of the d1-direct. Now, the Totaldac story progresses with a new, just announced chapter. The d1-triunity. Will the story of dominance lead to a new possession?
VYDA Laboratories Orion Silver Line HFC Cables
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 April 2023 15 April 2023
Among the very best audio systems I’ve heard, say in the top 5, was the reference setup in the sound studio at loudspeaker specialist Magico. Actually, the word “studio” may infer to a small, cosy space, where Magico’s is a large, custom-built, single purpose acoustically treated environment. There, with MSB Technology, Pilium and Taiko electronics up the signal chain of the majestic M9 flagship, I heard both truly moving and thoroughly precise music. After collecting my jaw from around my feet, I scouted around the system, noticing elegant all-black python-esque cables stringing the entire system together. When Magico’s CEO Alon Wolf, with some enthusiasm, told me he chose these over many others because of their overall excellence, my ears pricked-up like an Aussie Blue Heeler’s. After all, he could have any cable he desires. These tethering wonders were VYDA Laboratories. I just had to hear more…
Dellichord Loudspeakers FR6 Speakers
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 April 2023 01 April 2023
Here’s a not-so-fun fact: Manufacturing in Australia is super-expensive. In any industry. Aside from the obvious reasons, such as our high labour costs and parts freight to these shores (oh, the “tyranny of distance”), our R&D is meticulous and we mostly tend to have a very high level of craftsmanship – both are dollar multipliers. Time is money… But what if a new loudspeaker product, fully manufactured in Australia and using as many Aussie components as possible, was to launch presenting a high value, relatively low cost proposition? What if even its most expensive part, the cabinet, was precision CNC-machined in sunny “beautiful one day, perfect the next” Queensland? Those aspects and many more are the M.O. of the new FR6 from neonatal Dellichord Loudspeakers.
